News
Blessings — at all times and in all places
An interesting article in this week’s Church Times, spot anyone you know?
Service at TAIN this evening (Thursday 9th Jan) CANCELLED
Sadly, due to the bad weather, we are not able to get to St Andrew’s Tain to hold a service this evening. Please let people know if you think they might attend.
They Brought Him Gifts ….
St Andrew’s Tain was very busy on 5th January for a joint service for the Feast of the Epiphany, with folk from St Finnbarr’s Dornoch and St Columba’s Brora joining those from St Andrew’s.
In the sanctuary Canon James and Janet were joined by Fr Simon and Jamie, all getting on with their allotted tasks.
The singing was superb with some very talented singers leading the large congregation in a joyful celebration of the coming of the magi, the revelation to the gentiles and the presentation of gifts. In the sermon the three youngest members of the congregation brought up the gifts of Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh accompanied by the appropriate verse of ‘We Three Kings‘.
It was also Canon James’s last service as Priest-in-Charge of St Andrew’s and the Mission Congregations and representative of St Andrew’s and St Finnbarr’s brought up gifts for James and Anna after which the congregations prayed for them in their retirement.
That was all followed by splendid refreshments and noisy fellowship in the hall – a fitting celebration of one of the key feasts in the Christian calendar.
Carols in Tain
Yesterday afternoon we had a splendid Service of Readings and Carols enjoyed by a full church drawn from right across the area. There were readers from several local churches and fellowships and a wide selection of traditional and other favourite carols sung by many members of choirs and the congregation at large, with great gusto. Afterwards there was a collection for the Samaritans which raised almost £250.
The service was followed by mince pies, Christmas cakes, shortbread and biscuits made by the youngest person there, washed down with mulled wine or spiced apple juice. It was great to see so many people
enjoying themselves..
.
A huge thanks to all those who helped to make it the wonderful afternoon that it was and those who have helped to decorate the Church in the last couple of days, the readers and the singers and of course to Tom for accompanying the carols on the organ.
BEAUTIFUL CHRISTINGLES!
What a beautiful Carols and Christingle Service we had yesterday afternoon! Thank you to so many people who turned out on a very windy day to help us celebrate the Christingle and pray for children across the world. We collected £284 for The Children’s Society at the service. Special thanks to all who took part in the service, those who helped us make the Christingles and those who contributed all the different bits that make up the Christingle!
Rogart Mart Carol Service – CANCELLED
We are so sad to have to let you know that due to the very high winds forecast for tomorrow (Saturday 21st), the Carol Service at Rogart Mart has been cancelled. Disappointing for us, but everybody’s safety must come first! Please can you help get the message out?
Christingles Need YOU!!
We need you to come along to St Finnbarr’s, School Hill, Dornoch at 11am this Saturday morning and help us make CHRISTINGLES for our Christingle Service at 3pm on Sunday 22nd December! Making Christingles is great fun and we will have tea and coffee on the go, so please do join us! PS In the pic above, you can just see one of our cats ready to have a go at making a Christingle – the first person to guess his name and tell me in person on Saturday morning wins a special prize!! (Clue – he is all black and has a brother named after someone who might clean your chimney)!
A Joyous Evening of Thanksgiving
Yesterday Evensong, St Andrew’s, Tain resounded to the joyful thanksgiving for the reconstructed Belfry Tower in a service of Choral Evensong. A splendid choir assembled and led by Jamie Campbell aquitted themselves with great distinction, a superb organist in Gordon Tocher threatened to bring the tower back down again as he showed us what the Harrison and Harrison organ is capable of. Then of course there was the packed congregation who joined in the hymns with great gusto.
A huge thanks also to Myra and Carol who ensured that the choir, who rehearsed all afternoon, were fed and watered and then went on to repeat the exercise for the congregation after the service.
The readings were: Ezra 1:2-7, 2:68-70, 3:7-11: Psalm 84: John 2:13-22
The music was:
Henry Balfour Gardiner’s Evening Hymn
Anton Bruckner’s Locus Iste
Joanna Forbes L’Estrange’s Kings College Service
Setting – S Wallace in G
Voluntary – Sigfried Karg-Elert’s Chorale-Improvisation on “Nun Danket Alle Gott”
Thanksgiving for Harvest
A huge thank you to those who prepared our churches for our harvest thanksgivings this year and for donating food and produce for the food bank and others in need.
Scottish Episcopal Church - Dornoch, Lairg, Brora, Tain & Tongue 